#flockcameras — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #flockcameras, aggregated by home.social.
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Associated Press: Flock announces changes amid backlash over its license plate reader network. “Flock Safety, the surveillance technology company increasingly under scrutiny from lawmakers from both parties, civil liberties advocates and citizens across the U.S., announced Thursday that it is making changes to its platform intended to quell privacy concerns and address documented abuses of its […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/08/16/associated-press-flock-announces-changes-amid-backlash-over-its-license-plate-reader-network/ -
Common Dreams: New Database Documents Over 100 Cases of Cops Abusing Flock Surveillance Cameras. “A new database launched Wednesday that details more than 100 cases of alleged abuse by law enforcement officers using Flock Safety’s nationwide camera network is adding fresh urgency to the growing backlash against automated license plate readers.”
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/08/13/common-dreams-new-database-documents-over-100-cases-of-cops-abusing-flock-surveillance-cameras/ -
TechSpot: A cybersecurity researcher covered a Toyota in an AI-generated pattern to confuse Flock cameras. “The pattern does not stop a camera from recording. Instead, it is designed to prevent the software connected to the camera from recognizing what it sees. A person or car wearing the pattern would still appear in the footage, but the detection system may not flag it as a person or […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/08/12/techspot-a-cybersecurity-researcher-covered-a-toyota-in-an-ai-generated-pattern-to-confuse-flock-cameras/ -
Aaron Rodgers secretly funded his town's Flock-style cameras
https://www.foiaball.com/p/aaron-rodgers-secretly-bought-police-alpr-cameras
Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49276021
#HackerNews #AaronRodgers #FlockCameras #PrivacyConcerns #CommunitySupport #ALPRTechnology #LocalNews
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#FlockCameras Can Track Every Car in America. #Police Love Them. Citizens Don’t.
In Texas, there’s one thing liberals and conservatives agree on: They don’t want cameras trained on their cars.
By Fernando Alfonso III and Kashmir Hill
Aug. 10, 2026Excerpt: "A #Texas officer used Flock’s cameras to track a woman across state lines who was suspected of self-administering an abortion. Officers across the country have abused their access to Flock’s cameras, including to track romantic partners, resulting in discipline and termination. #LosAngeles and #DaytonOH , among other cities, recently suspended their contracts with Flock to prevent immigration authorities from accessing data from the cameras. Dayton resorted to covering the cameras with trash bags. In cities like Houston, Oakland, Calif., and Grand Junction, Colo., residents have taken matters into their own hands, with police reports and surveillance footage documenting Flock cameras being cut down, splattered with paint and even shot.
"Flock’s pitch is simple: It can help the police find stolen cars, locate wanted people and solve crimes. One license-plate reader led to the arrest in Florida of a man who had threatened a mass shooting in Louisiana; another helped police find the man eventually convicted in an assassination attempt against Donald J. Trump.
"But as its cameras have spread, so has the opposition. Americans are accustomed to surveillance cameras. They put them on their doorbells and tolerate them on street corners, offices and restaurants. What sets Flock’s cameras apart is that they are connected, creating a vast, searchable national network — often surprising residents who didn’t realize their local governments had signed up for them and raising fears of #BigBrother style surveillance. And they are hard to miss once you start noticing them."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/3PnB8#USPol #ACAB #ICE #SurveillanceState #Fascism #Orwellian #PoliceState #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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Drones have been on my radar screen (pun intended) for quite a few years...
Don’t Let Police Arm Autonomous or Remote-Controlled Robots and Drones
By Matthew Guariglia
July 16, 2021"It’s no longer science fiction or unreasonable paranoia. Now, it needs to be said: No, police must not be arming land-based robots or aerial drones. That’s true whether these mobile devices are remote controlled by a person or autonomously controlled by artificial intelligence, and whether the weapons are maximally lethal (like bullets) or less lethal (like tear gas). [Or #ElectricShockGloves !]
"Police currently deploy many different kinds of moving and task-performing technologies. These include flying drones, remote control bomb-defusing robots, and autonomous patrol robots. While these different devices serve different functions and operate differently, none of them--absolutely none of them--should be armed with any kind of weapon.
"Mission creep is very real. Time and time again, technologies given to police to use only in the most extreme circumstances make their way onto streets during protests or to respond to petty crime. For example, cell site simulators (often called ' #Stingrays ') were developed for use in foreign battlefields, brought home in the name of fighting 'terrorism,' then used by law enforcement to catch immigrants and a man who stole $57 worth of food. Likewise, police have targeted #BLM #protesters with #FaceSurveillance and #AmazonRing doorbell cameras.
"Today, scientists are developing an #AI enhanced #AutonomousDrone, designed to find people during natural disasters by locating their screams. How long until police use this technology to find protesters shouting chants? What if these autonomous drones were armed? We need a clear red line now: no armed police drones, period.
"There are already law enforcement robots and drones of all shapes, sizes, and levels of autonomy patrolling the United States as we speak. From autonomous #Knightscope robots prowling for 'suspicious behavior' and collecting images of license plates [ #FlockCameras ] and phone identifying information, to #BostonDynamic robotic dogs accompanying police on calls in New York or checking the temperature of unhoused people in Honolulu, to #PredatorSurveillanceDrones flying over BLM protests in #Minneapolis.
"We are moving quickly towards arming such robots and letting autonomous artificial intelligence determine whether or not to pull the trigger."
#ICESucks #SurveillanceState #DefundICE #DefundDHS #ArmedPoliceDrones #PoliceDrones
#ACAB #RoboCops #PredatorUAVs #PredatorDrones #UAVs #ICE #SurveillanceState #Fascism #WeaponizedDrones #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
#CompliantTechnologies #CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol -
New Bedford police officer accused of using Flock cameras to track ex-partner
Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49266899
#HackerNews #NewBedford #Police #FlockCameras #PrivacyConcerns #DomesticSurveillance #LawEnforcement #Accountability
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A cybersecurity researcher covered a Toyota in an AI-generated pattern to confuse Flock cameras
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CW: Flock Cams in Michigan
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Flock Cameras Can Track Every Car in America. Police Love Them. Citizens Don't
Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49251978
#HackerNews #FlockCameras #CarTracking #PrivacyConcerns #Surveillance #Technology #LawEnforcement
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#Flock planned to turn #Uber and #Lyft cars into mobile #surveillance vehicles
https://cybernews.com/news/flock-uber-lyft-vehicles-surveillance/
#ai #flockcameras #tech #technology #alpr
#spying #masssurveillance #privacy
#civilrights #stalking -
Dozens of officers accused of using Flock system to track women they know personally
https://cybernews.com/ai-news/flock-cameras-stalking
#ai #flockcameras #tech
#technology #alpr
#spying #surveillance
#masssurveillance #privacy
#civilrights #stalking -
Flock Is Losing Dozens of Contracts as Controversy Grows
https://futurism.com/future-society/flock-dozens-contracts-alprs-controversy-cancellation
#ai #flockcameras #tech #technology #alpr #spying #surveillance #masssurveillance #privacy #civilrights
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Gizmodo: Google’s AI Search Reportedly Told Users That Flock Cameras Are a Goldmine. “It’s become a running joke online and in privacy-focused communities that Flock cameras contain valuable material like gold, copper, and zinc, a bit meant to (jokingly!) encourage people to smash open the cameras and take what’s inside. Google’s AI Overview doesn’t have much of a sense of humor and, […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/08/06/gizmodo-googles-ai-search-reportedly-told-users-that-flock-cameras-are-a-goldmine/ -
RE: https://climatejustice.social/@KarlHeinzHasliP/117041219346830164
Crows have joined the Butlerin Jihad!
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RE: https://ni.hil.ist/@riotmuffin/117039572621763329
I'll bet that the next version of #FlockCameras will have a lens on the back as well so people can't sneak up and chop them down without being seen.
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All of Winona Police Department's Flock cameras cut down and stolen
Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171656
#HackerNews #WinonaPolice #FlockCameras #CrimeNews #TheftAlert #CommunitySafety
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> A Washington Post investigation found that at least 50 law enforcement officers nationwide have been charged with or accused of misusing Flock’s network of over 120,000 AI license-plate cameras, most often to stalk women without their knowledge, including wives, girlfriends, exes, or new partners of exes. The investigation centers on Marci Bakely, a Georgia woman whose ex-boyfriend, police chief Michael Steffman, searched her license plate roughly 600 times over 13 months before being arrested on stalking and harassment charges; he died by suicide in April before facing trial.
Other documented cases include a Kansas police lieutenant fired for tracking his ex-wife and their children, a Florida officer who told his girlfriend “the police are already here” after threatening her with his gun, and a Wisconsin officer who used Flock to check whether his girlfriend had visited an abortion clinic. The Post found that Flock gives police departments wide latitude over oversight settings, with many agencies conducting minimal auditing, and in some cases officers continued using the system even after being flagged for misuse, while punishments varied widely due to a patchwork of state laws and no federal regulation. Flock has said abuse is “inevitable” given its scale but pointed to new voluntary “audit assistance” tools as a fix, while critics like the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation argue basic safeguards, such as requiring a case number for every search, remain optional rather than mandatory.
#aaronparnas #substack #uspol
#uspolitics #flockcameras
#licenseplatesurveillance
#licenseplatereaders #stalking
#policeofficer #policeinvestigation
#marciblakely #georgia #kansas
#florida #Wisconsin #aclu #eff
#electronicfrontierfoundationhttps://open.substack.com/pub/aaronparnas/p/major-update-trump-doj-executes-sham
